These Generals Fought for Israel. Now They See ‘Jewish Terrorism’ as the Threat.

What the report says

Former Israeli generals, intelligence officials and at least one former prime minister are publicly warning that violence by Jewish settlers in the West Bank has become a grave threat to Israel’s future, according to The New York Times. The article says some of these figures now describe the settler campaign as ethnic cleansing and argue that it is being carried out with government backing.

The New York Times frames the shift as notable because many of the people speaking out were once deeply involved in Israel’s security and political establishment. Their criticism reflects a growing internal debate over the West Bank, where tensions between settlers and Palestinians have intensified amid the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The piece centers on the idea that the danger is no longer seen only as a security challenge from outside Israel’s mainstream, but as a moral and political crisis within it.

The article does not provide the full underlying evidence in the available text, but it indicates that these warnings are tied to events and policies in the West Bank, an occupied territory where settlement expansion has long been disputed internationally. In general background, the term “Jewish terrorism” is used by some critics to describe politically motivated attacks by Jewish extremists; that characterization is contested and highly charged. The New York Times says the former officials believe the situation is severe enough to threaten the country’s long-term stability.